A day does not pass without my receiving a number of e-mails pointing out the many disgusting things that have been said and done by our president and the Democratic party that are bringing our once great country to the brink of ruination.
I was thinking about this phenomenon this morning and I wondered why my friends keep sending me all of this stuff. I mean it’s like preaching to the choir. It would be far more effective to send these e-mails to someone who still likes these guys. If I personally knew anyone who liked the actions and belief system of President Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and their cohorts, I would forward the e-mails to them in a heartbeat in the hopes they could see what these people actually stand for and are doing to our country in the hopes it might make a difference at their next voting opportunity.
Alas to my knowledge I don’t even know anyone who supports these bums and sending these e-mails to someone like me is useless. I only have one vote and I can triple dog guarantee that it will be directed against those who support abortion, gay marriage, research on stem cells derived from unborn children, big government, big spending, favoritism towards unions, more regulation, less personal freedom, and higher taxation.
Receiving these e-mails reminds me of many religious organizations and churches. It seems that their entire programs are geared towards those who have already received Christ and they make little to no effort towards those who are most in need of receiving Him. Evangelism is all but dead in most churches these days. They seem more like social clubs to me.
If perchance you think this is mere poppycock? How many professions of faith in Jesus Christ and baptisms are occurring in your church each week?
Huh?
I do believe in fellowship with other Christians, I adore a great music program and of course I love Bible study, and I really enjoy being around others who love the Lord. But I also believe in evangelism and I have a genuine passion for those who don’t know Christ as their Savior. I get near physically ill when I go to church and listen to “series” after series after series on all kinds of “religious” subjects with no mention of why someone needs to accept Christ or how to lead someone to Him except maybe a few moments in the very end. Most often church membership is emphasized most of all.
The Pharisees (the absolute pinnacle of religious leaders of Christ’s day) could not get over the fact that Jesus didn’t spend all of His time in their ornate temples being one of them. Instead He walked mile and after mile every day seeking out all sorts of people in need of His message, (He even conversed with a Samaritan woman – a big no – no in His day). He dined and drank with the tax collectors, poor, sinners and various rabble, and when they asked Him about it, He remarked that it is the sick that are in need of a physician and that “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
If a shabbily dressed person in need of a haircut and shave wandered into your fine church this Sunday, how many would greet them with a smile, shake their hand and make them feel welcome? Who in their right mind would sit with them? If this was the one and only time they would ever enter a church would this person leave with a thorough understanding of how they might find salvation and would they even want to become a Christian because of their experience of attending church?
It is the sick that need the Great Physician. Don’t spend ALL of your time with those who are already on their way to heaven, but parcel some to those who might not be on that train to glory. All four of the Gospels end with Jesus commanding His disciples to go to all nations and spread the good news of Jesus Christ. It is literally the last thing He did prior to His ascension into heaven. He didn’t tell them to seek out other believers and form a social club.
We need to listen to this command and take action. So here is our dilemma, we can evangelize and teach others to evangelize and offer ongoing support to the flock, or we can support the flock, support the flock some more, see and be seen, and then go home to a big dinner, now that is the question…
Mark 2:17
“On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”